The ramifications of teenage acne on the specific' psyche

Posted at 10.04.2018

Adolescence, from the Latin term 'adolescere' means to expand up. Adolescence is the time of life where young adults will undertake puberty, which really is a 'transitional stage between childhood and adulthood that involves natural, cognitive, and socioemotional changes' (yan yan's adolescence). During puberty, teenagers experience an instant physical progress and mental changes scheduled to a surge in hormone development. Examples of the effects on puberty on teens are development of facial and genital wild hair, development of breast in young ladies and changes in speech in guys. The development jobs of teenagers during puberty also include creating a sense of identification and self-worth, and therefore, teenage acne has a higher probable to cause adverse subconscious and societal effects on young adults (5). In this article, the focus will be on the subconscious and societal impact of teenage acne developed during puberty on teenager.

Acne vulgaris, also called acne, pimple or zit, is quite typical in young adults, over 90% of males and 80% of females will be afflicted by age 21 years [1](1). Teenage acne is a epidermis disorder results from the action of androgen, a male intimacy hormone released during puberty. Male gender hormone isn't only within men but also found in smaller amount in women. Therefore, both male and female teenagers possess the tendency to have problems with teenage acne. The hormone triggers the sebaceous gland on the skin to secrets sebum, an greasy substance on pores and skin. Sebum is then secreted onto the skin surface via the hair roots opening. Mixture of oil and skin cells allows the progress of bacteria in the follicle openings. When the expansion of bacteria happens, pore of skin will become clogged, inflammation might occur, and acne is developed. [2](web2) Teenage acne commonly looks on the facial skin and the back, but it is also possible to acquire acne on the upper body, biceps and triceps, buttocks, groin and armpit area. Essentially, acne can be produced at anywhere where there will be the presence of hair roots and sebaceous glands.

Apart from being the most significant organ of your body, skin is definitely accepted as the organ of appearance and communication. Skin functions as the boundary between ourselves and the outside world [3](Sack, pg1). Skin can react to physiological stimuli such as rash triggered by allergies and also respond to mental stimuli such as blushing when feel ashamed [5](van moffaert pg1). Skin is like a mirror to shows our soul. A healthy skin, such as a healthy heart and soul, 'is needed for specific physical and internal well-being and self-confidence' [4](2). During adolescence, teenage tend to be concern about the look of them and the common sense of their peers. As appearance and conformity are warmly respected by young adults, therefore whenever a teenager is suffering from acne, they may feel socially devalued and repelled by their peers. [6](web1). Because of the fact that adolescence is a spot of increase in sensitivity, where they are simply exuberant and want to look the best. Therefore, even minor acne will produce significant psychosocial impact to a teenager.

Being in a population that emphasises greatly on appearance, teenage acne sufferers often feel uneasy and humiliated (web 3). Generally, people will perceive that development of acne is because of having less personal hygiene. Others tend to assess a person corresponding to their physical appearance, this may cause harmful effects over a teenage acne victims' self-esteem. Young adults with acne will have lower self-esteem as they haven't any self-assurance about themselves and constantly fret about their skin area (4). As teens will be more self-conscious about the look of them, they may thought guilty and shameful as they think that they are in charge of their skin conditions. Teenagers may have a tough time socialising normally, and have trouble making eyes contact as they feel ashamed of their appearance. Hence, teens may withdraw themselves from the population as they do not want to be judged or to be commented on their skin conditions. A good example of social drawback is a teenage young lady may be so self-conscious of her appearance that she refused to maintain the family pictures throughout a reunion outing. (web1)

A study was conducted on young adults in New Zealand to 'study the connection between acne and depressive symptoms, stress and suicidal behaviours'. The analysis shows that teenagers presenting with teenage acne are at increased risk of depression, stress and suicide attempts. (5) Further studies also show that development of acne and mental health are interrelated. Stress, major depression and anxiousness could increase the severeness of acne. Acne condition of patient having despair increases after treatment. (5) Alternatively, acne could lead to depression and stress on teenagers. This is due to the negative home image, lower self-esteem and interpersonal withdrawal of teenage acne sufferers. However, it was discovered that girls had higher-level of nervousness and melancholy than boys(6). This may explain that the consequences of acne on your body image may be more important for teenage ladies, and teenage girls are more vulnerable to the negative psychological effects of acne. (6) All these negative psychological results may exert too much pressure on teens and causes suicidal tries when teenagers didn't seek treatment to cope with it.

Besides mental health impact, acne also causes societal results on young adults. Teenage acne sufferers end up hard to make new friends for their own take on their skin's appearance, as they believed that a lot of people will evaluate others according with their physical appearances. Moreover, lower self-esteem and being embarrassed with their skin conditions also rendering it hard for young adults to make new friends. At past due adolescence, teenagers seem look for or to be engaged in intimate interactions. However, physical performances are often associated with sexual elegance. Therefore, teenage acne sufferers will find themselves ugly rather than attractive enough. As a result, teenage acne victims will have reduction in assurance around opposite love-making. Apart from the emotional effects of young adults, teenage acne victims may be bullied and teased by their peers in university (4). They might be called insulting brands such as 'bumpy face' and 'walking human zits' by others. Due to each one of these bullying that took place in college, teenage ace sufferers may refused to wait college as they does not enjoy institution and hated it when being bullied by others. Therefore, acne will affect teens' education as they'll be skipping school very often to don't be bullied.

As acne could also presence on teens' body apart from on the face. Teenagers might not want to take part in sports as they would feel vulnerable because they need to expose their face or their upper body where acne is occurrence (web 4). Activities that required them to expose some portion of body such as gym class and going swimming will be a problem for teenage acne sufferers. (web1) The look they get from their peers in college makes teenagers feel so socially insecure that some of them will fake injuries to avoid heading to gym course. (web 4) Teenage young girls may use cosmetic makeup products such as foundations and concealer to hide their acne problem, at the same time, gives them hook upsurge in self-confidence. Despite the fact that cosmetics may multiply and aggravate their acne conditions, teenage young girls will still choose to use makeup to veil their acne when they are in touch with others or doing activities because of their low self-esteem. On the other hand, teenage guys may feel at a downside in comparison to teenage young ladies as boys have no ways to conceal their acne problem. Therefore, acne will have a bigger impact on teenage boys compared to teenage girls as they are lack of the aid of beauty products to increase their self-confidence and self-esteem.

There are some tips to avoid and control acne. Usually do not over rinse or use tough scrubs on epidermis as acne is not brought on by dirt. An excessive amount of cleaning can leave skin dry and irritated, which then triggers glands to produce more sebum that will improve the creation of acne. Besides, use oil-free or non-comedogenic products on face as the products will not clog the pores on skin. Finally, do not squeeze or pick acne. Squeezing and picking acne can drive bacterias deeper into skin area and brings about more inflammations as well as long lasting scarring on pores and skin (web2).

The cruelest real truth about acne is that the greater you think and be concerned about it, the greater outbreaks of acne occurs. (web5) The pursuit for flawless skin area will be really exhausting for teenagers and may cause them to weary in their studies. Parents play an important role in assisting young adults when they are suffering from the psychosocial effects caused by teenage acne. If parents aren't supportive enough, it'll be very hard for teens to defeat the emotional problems they are facing. Parents should be thoughtful and really should not blame their children for the outbreaks of acne, expressing that it is their daily diet and activities that is triggering their acne. Besides encouraging teenagers psychologically, parents can provide support by firmly taking teenagers to a skin doctor as dermatologist can help reduce the outbreaks of acne that will then give some peace of mind to young adults. Besides skin specialist, a psychologist or a counsellor is effective to counsel teens with mental problems and ease them from stress and tensions. Apart from relieving stress, they could help teenagers to build up their self-esteem and face the planet with more self-assurance.

Generally, teenagers suffer from acne have higher sense of understanding with their bodies and performances. This causes them to have difficulties to comply with the social standards and hence causes those to be under huge pressure. This pressure will leads to psychosocial results in teenagers such as despair, a reduced sense of body image and self-esteem, erotic and relationship difficulties, and a general reduction in standard of living. (pg 6) However, young adults should comprehend that having perfect skin is not really a crucial part of life and real beauty should actually result from within (web6). Therefore, teenagers should give attention to living life to the fullest instead of being too concern about their looks.